High Treason
by Corbel
Summary: Samus, trapped on Aether, encounters a few unpleasant surprises. The beginning might require a bit of knowledge of the Metroid series. Oneshot.


Roots-For-Claws, the alpha male of the last pack of Grenchlers, was worried, andworry doesn't come easily to a grenchler.

First had come the Night-Without-Moon, many cycles ago, when the world was blotted out. As a result, food for the lizard-like predators had become scarce, and the pack belonging to Roots-For-Claws started to starve. The Night also heralded the arrival of a loathsome enemy, the Ones-Like-Smoke, who proceeded to decimate Grenchlerkind even further. Quivering, Roots-For-Claws recalled what had happened next: His seers had predicted the arrival of a flaming meteor accompanied by an even greater foe, a great warrior that spelt out doom for the grenchlers, a four-limbed beast encased in armor who would come to be known as known by the scavengers of the planet as Bringer-of-Fire.

Roots-For-Claws' anxiety was cut short by the sound of metal tapping on stone. Peering out into the darkness, he froze. Straight ahead of him was a thin band of light floating in the gloom, the telltale sign of impending death from Bringer-of-Fire. He had begun to cry out a warning when he noticed a steady, rapidly building glow next to the first strange light. With a flash, the light shot towards Roots-For-Claws, and his screech was cut short.

Ignoring the grenchler's last scream, Samus Aran, the Hunter, sighed and felt her joints popping. No matter how many of the big lizards she exterminated, it never got any easier on her body or on her morals, and recently, her age had begun to take its toll. In her younger years, she had gone about her bounty hunting with zeal, but she was starting to find herself lacking a purpose, and was pondering retiring from all the intrigue of the Galactic Federation. But that was just fantasy.Retiring wasn't anoption. After the Metroid outbreak on Tallon IV, all planets had been on lockdown until a planetary screening could be performed to make sure there were no traces of metroids. As a result, G.F. employees were stationed on every planet, to ensure that no one escaped the lockdown. Samus Aran remembered her outrage at being told that it didn't matter how much metroid DNA she had, she couldn't vouch for the little creatures and that she was expected to keep quiet while she did all the dirty work.

After eradicating "all" the metroids on Aether(she kept a few well hidden specimens as pets), she,still young, had not been allowed to return home or even leave Aether, and had resigned herself to living out her life among the Luminoth. Since then, seventy years had passed, and Samus had grown old and tired. After settling into Luminoth life, she discovered that battle was not something she could live without. From time to time, she would get restless, feeling an agitation that could only be quelled by violence. To ease the burden upon herself, she had taken to traveling the planet's surface looking for wrongs to right. Now, once again in the possession of this bloodlust, she had stumbled upon a nest of Grenchlers, and felt like she had only been a spectator as she had exterminated every last one. She exited the pitiful cave system that served as the grenchler pack's meager shelter and looked around.

It was chilly, slightly breezy night, clear as a diamond, with stars as bright as her ship's thrusters dotting the sky, or at least that was how her suit's sensors interpreted it. Samus had begun to have health problems shortly after her exile on Aether began, and only through complete integration into her suit could she have remained alive for this long. Effectively, her suit was permanently bonded to her body, and taking it off to enjoy the night air would mean almost instant death. Feeling melancholy, the Hunter strode towards the nearest Luminoth settlement.

After a few strides, she stopped. Something about this night didn't feel quite at ease. Hearing something in the bushes, she stopped and crouched low to the ground. _That was odd_, she thought to herself. _My suit's proximity alarm didn't go off…_ As she wondered what kind of creature could trick a Mark VI G.F. radar system, a javelin of light flew out of the darkness, striking her in the chest. Having felt the blow of this same weapon many times before, she knew what it was at once: a standard issue Space Pirate Commander's rifle. Suddenly, a flurry of beams came from all around, so many that it was impossible to dodge them all. She ran, taking great strides to escape the menace she could no longer handle. As she ran, she felt as though her age was chasing her alongside the pirates; eventually, she couldn't run any longer. That was when it hit her: the pirates weren't trying to kill her: they were herding her.

Just as she thought this, she realized something with a tingle of foreboding down her back. She was no longer standing on the savanna of Aether. In its place was a hard metal surface she had failed to see in her rapid flight. Too soon for her now dull reflexes to put a plan into action, electricity surged through the metal plate and sapped her remaining energy. Riddled with pain, she peered around for what she already knew was there: a troop of malevolent eyes glaring at her with in an almost childish fashion. As she struggled to move off the plate, to move against the pain, against the age, she heard the tallest of the Pirates utter something. Because of the electricity coursing through her, her suit's translator took a few seconds to kick in, but it operated without fail, translating the Space Pirate's comment for her fading conscience: "the Hunter has become the prey". At this, Samus gave up hope.

Frighteningly, she realized her body had started to move of its own accord, taking slow, careful steps off the platform and towards the group of space pirates. Before they had realized what was happening, she was among them, swiftly and deftly killing all ten of them, after which she collapsed. As she stood up to try and compose herself, she felt a red hot poker of pain stabbing through her chest, which was slowly replaced by an icy feeling of dread and emptiness. Turning around, she saw the mirror image of her younger self. The duplicate was holding a space pirate's sword, the other end of which was stuck in Samus' back. Gasping, Samus managed to maneuver her arm cannon to the clone's face and fired, killing it instantly. As the aberration fell, she caught a glimpse of a G.F. badge on its shoulder pads. The pirates had insignias attached to their shoulders too. Was she that much of a threat that Space Pirates and the G.F. had joined forces to eliminate her? Not anymore, anyways. She could feel it in every fiber of her being, sweet release coming to her in the form of the G.F.'s betrayal: she was going to die that night.

She managed to crawl to the base of a large tree in the center of the field, which she crumpled against. Surprisingly, she no longer felt any pain, instead feeling relief that she would no longer have to kill. Samus had wondered many times what dying would feel like, and felt like she was close to death even more often, but now that it was actually happening, she realized that it felt good. As she sat contemplatingthis warrior's death, Samus Aran the bounty hunter left her body and floated up among the stars, to join the Chozo, where she belonged.


End file.
